The Appalling Idea of Increasing U.S. Support for the War on Yemen

Dan de Luce reports that the Trump administration is considering increased support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen:

The Pentagon is looking to increase support for Saudi Arabia’s two-year-old war against Houthi rebels in Yemen, signaling a possible expansion of Washington’s controversial backing for a campaign that human rights groups say has killed hundreds of civilians and fueled a growing humanitarian crisis.

Two years ago, the Obama administration backed the Saudi-ledintervention even though our officers didn’t know what the coalition hoped to accomplish and many U.S. officials rightly didn’t think it would succeed. Now that the coalition has spent the last two years wrecking and starving Yemen without achieving any of their stated goals, it is even more absurd and irresponsible for the U.S. to continue support for the war, much less increase it. If the original decision to back the Saudis and their allies was shameful, giving them even more support now would be simply appalling. It was bad enough to make the terrible mistake of making the U.S. complicit in an atrocious war that has destabilized the region, ruined Yemen, and strengthened Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but it would be deranged to commit the U.S. to an even larger role in enabling this disaster now that we know how much damage the intervention has already done.

The U.S. ought to be actively looking for ways to rein in the coalition, pressure them to lift their blockade, extricate the U.S. from the war, and try to repair some of the damage done by this horrific policy. I have no reason to think that the Trump administration will do any of that, but at the very least they should refrain from deepening U.S. involvement in a disgraceful and indefensible war.

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3 Responses to The Appalling Idea of Increasing U.S. Support for the War on Yemen

I don’t see how the Saudi’s execution of their blockades on Yemen could not be considered a war crime based on using food as a weapon. They have effectively prevented food imports into the Houthi portion of Yemen, they also allowed the clown of a President to destroy the Central Bank to make is hard for them to trade for food.

I wish that Haley Barbor would channel Samantha Power, pretend that Saudi Arabia is Russia and throw one of her tantrums at the U.N. Barring that, I suppose I could try writing to the Russian Ambassador and see if they want to introduce Resolutions that should rightfully embarrass the U.S.

I am stunned that Trump is actually expanding our footprint in the Middle East. Others will crow “we told you so”, but I really didn’t expect it. I really thought he understood the need to get out of there and start focusing on America. And washing his hands of Yemen would have been so easy, virtually cost-free politically.